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DanceDanceRevolution SuperNOVA
Dance Dance Revolution SuperNova (Dancing Stage SuperNova in Europe) is an arcade game in the Dance Dance Revolution series of music video games. It was produced by Konami and released through Betson Enterprises. The game was released in Europe on April 28, 2006, followed shortly by the United States release on May 15. Unlike previous DDR arcade releases, the versions for Europe, United States, and Japan have the same features and song list. The European version is its 5th arcade release, and the first since Dancing Stage Fusion in 2004. The North American version is its 3rd arcade release, and the first since Dance Dance Revolution USA in 2000. The Japanese version is its 9th traditional arcade release, and the first since Dance Dance Revolution Extreme in 2002. The release contains 303 songs. Of those, 64 are completely new to DDR (including three Extra Stage songs and a One More Extra Stage), and a total of 57 songs are from home versions of DDR and are appearing on an arcade machine for the first time. Of the songs that are new to DDR, 19 are licensed. There are two sets of unlockable songs revealed on the section of the DDR SuperNova website labeled "Secret". The first set is accessed by choosing Expert Mode, and passing the final stage with an AA or better. These songs are Healing-D-Vision by DE-STRAD, Fascination MAXX by 100-200-400, and Fascination ~eternal love mix~ by 2MB. The second set is unlocked by clearing any Secret Song (a song unlocked by the first method) in EXTRA STAGE. The song unlocked by this method is CHAOS by DE-SIRE retunes.DanceDanceRevolution SuperNOVA Specifications The game was initially released in an updated cabinet with a new CPU core and a 32-inch high-definition CRT. The new dedicated cabinets are considerably less deep than their predecessors. An upgrade to current JAMMA DDR cabinets was made available in October 2006. The CPU core is actually a modified PlayStation 2 with a hard drive upgrade and modified graphics processor to permit the HD signal display on the flat-screen CRT monitor. One of the criticisms about the arcade port of Dancing Stage Fusion was that it was essentially the home version game with only very slight modification played in an actual PS2. DDR SuperNova, however, is a whole new game made specifically for the arcade powered on a modified PS2. It has, however, been ported to a home version, though the home version and arcade versions have slightly different songlists (the main difference being different licensed songs for the arcade and home versions). The game's user interface is inspired by Dance Dance Revolution Extreme 2, the Japanese counterpart Dance Dance Revolution Strike and its European counterpart, Dancing Stage MAX. The backgrounds of the selection screens rotate colors between red, blue, and green, and have a wireframe motif. The three main difficulties of normal gameplay, Light, Standard, and Heavy, were renamed to Basic, Difficult, and Expert. Release The American version was released on May 15, with the first confirmed sighting at Disneyland in Anaheim, California at the Tomorrowland Starcade. The Japanese version was delayed slightly so that the game software could be updated to fix the reported timing issues, and was later released with an extra song (the aforementioned remix of Flow) in late July 2006. Gameplay Core gameplay in SuperNova did not change much from previous versions, although the scoring system received a major overhaul: SuperNova's scoring system has been greatly simplified from prior DDR versions. As in In the Groove and the Challenge or "Oni" Mode in DDRMAX2 and DDR Extreme, all steps in the song are now valued equally; no longer will later steps in the song be worth more than earlier steps. All songs are worth a maximum of 10,000,000 points. Each Perfect step is worth 10M/n (where n is the number of steps plus three times of number of freezes in the song), and each Great is worth 10M/2n. Unlike DDRMAX through Extreme, double steps ("jumps") only add 1 to the combo counter instead of 2. Songs are also scored invisibly to the player by "Dance Points," which determine which letter grade is given to the player; each Perfect step is worth 2 Dance Points, a Great step is worth 1 Dance Point, and an OK on a Freeze Arrow is worth 2 Dance Points. Goods, Almosts, Boos, and NGs are worth 0 dance points; unlike DDRMAX through Extreme, they do not subtract from the Dance Point total. The maximum Dance Point score is therefore equal to double the number of steps plus two times of number of freezes in the song. Each individual song has its own high score, which is briefly displayed when the song is selected, but before it loads. Interface & graphics The screen refreshes at a full speed of 60 frames per second. Unlike previous recent games, only previous songs from recent home versions or crossovers from Beatmania IIDX contain full motion video backgrounds. New songs instead, contain live-rendered backgrounds with dancing characters for the first time in an arcade mix since Dance Dance Revolution 5thMix. Foot ranking Debuting in the original Dance Dance Revolution, foot rankings have been the staple indicator for a song's difficulty. Originally on a scale of one to eight "feet," it has since then been expanded to a scale of one to ten, with flashing ten footers being used to indicate songs that are more difficult than can be displayed on the one to ten scale. SuperNOVA uses a mixed Difficulty Display which combines the Groove Radar, with the Foot Ranking display of that from Dance Dance Revolution 5thMix, which shows all available step chart and rankings, instead of displaying the rankings one at a time, ala the DDRMAX-generation of games. However, the Groove Radar only displays graphical representations of the currently selected difficulty for each player. Modifiers The options menu was redesigned on Supernova, and is still accessed by holding down the start button when picking a song. The "Solo" modifier was renamed to "Rainbow", and a new noteskin was added that resembles StepMania's "Note" skin; it is functionally similar to "Rainbow", but the colors are more distinctive. (This noteskin was actually available on most previous home DDR games, through a setting on the options menu; for example, in DDRMAX, it can be accessed through the Graphic Options menu by switching the arrow display to "TYPE2".) Jumps can also be converted to single steps or removed entirely. Extra Stage If the player receives an AA or better grade (a score of 9,500,000 or higher, and thus 95% or more of the total Dance Points possible) on their final stage playing on Expert or Challenge difficulty, an Extra Stage is earned. Any song may be chosen for the Extra Stage, although depending on the game mode chosen at the beginning of the game, an additional song which is not normally available is added to the song list. The Extra Stage may only be played on Expert difficulty. The song modifiers are pre-set and may not be changed. Finally, the Extra Stage's life meter follows different rules; instead of starting half-full and (re)filling as the player hits steps accurately, the life meter starts completely filled, but cannot recover. Approximately five "Almost" and/or "Boo" steps will deplete the meter and fail the song. If the starting game mode was Easy or Medium, the Extra Stage song is Healing-D-Vision by De-Strad, a 10-foot difficulty song with a BPM of 180 which speeds up to 360 near the end. Note that this song was originally rated a "9" before the patch released in mid-September. If the starting game mode was Hard or All Music, the Extra Stage song is Fascination MAXX by 100-200-400, a flashing-10-foot difficulty song with a BPM which shifts between 100, 200, and 400. The sync patch for DDR SuperNOVA, released in mid-September 2006 added another Extra Stage song, Fascination ~eternal love mix~ by 2MB. It is a remix of Fascination MAXX that also has a shifting BPM and contains pauses. Regardless of song, the forced modifiers are x1.5, Rainbow, and Reverse. One More Extra Stage (Encore Extra Stage) The 'One More Extra Stage', also known as the Encore Extra Stage, was introduced in DDRMAX and is always a fixed song to play, with a set of predetermined modifiers. One More Extra Stage uses a "Sudden Death" life bar; the player automatically fails if they get any Good, Almost, Boo, or NG steps. In SuperNova, it is obtained by passing Healing-D-Vision or getting at least an A grade on Fascination MAXX or Fascination ~eternal love mix~ '''during the first Extra Stage. In SuperNOVA, the designated song for the One More Extra Stage is '''CHAOS by DE-SIRE retunes, a mid-tempo to moderately fast song with an unusual rhythm and erratic stops in the beat – at least 42 of them – making it very difficult to follow. It is the first One More Extra Stage to have a foot rating of 10. There are no modifiers on CHAOS; in fact, the song must be played at the default settings all around. Game modes In addition to the four basic difficulty levels of Easy, Medium, Hard (Difficult), and All Music, the following selections are available: Tutorial Mode is significantly different than Extreme's Beginner Mode. A three-to-four minute tutorial about how to play the game is shown, giving players the opportunity to follow the announcer's instructions. Afterwards, one song is chosen. This time, the song selected in Beginner in normal gameplay does not show the background of a character on a DDR pad showing how to step. It is instead played like a normal Beginner Song. Nonstop Mode allows the player to play one of several set courses without stopping. It is selecable when you are selecting the difficulty for the song. Its scoring is the same as a normal game, and is otherwise functionally identical to Extreme's Nonstop mode. The only difference is that in Extreme, the player was able to select a "Normal" or "Difficult" level for the course, whereas in Supernova, all courses have only one difficulty level. (resumes the difficulty selection at SuperNova 2.) Challenge Mode, also referred to as Oni Mode, formerly known as Challenging Mode, requires you to complete a set course of songs, with difficulties set and, in some cases, different mods. Song play options are disabled in Oni Mode, and the player must play them all at normal scroll and whatever option(s) the machine deems is part of the course. Unlike Nonstop Mode, you have to be perfect with your steps. The life bar is replaced with 4 Parts of the Whole Dance Gauge. If you get a GOOD, ALMOST, BOO or NG up to four times in any one song, it fails you out and the game ends. Your score is derived from the dance point system, and is the number of possible dance points you earned. ALMOSTs and BOOs do not take away from your dance points. This mode also has changed in that the player's combo increases with Greats, rather than having them not affect the current combo. Also note that life recovery is much harder: only one life can be recovered every two songs. Battle Mode is a competitive mode between two players. Each player must play on the same difficulty and is given a shuffled version of the stepchart. Creating combos can send one of many different attacks to the other player's side to make it more difficult for him to read his notes. Creating longer combos results in more damaging attacks. These attacks (especially the stronger ones) can include strange modifiers that cannot be selected under normal circumstances. The health bar is replaced by a balance meter on the top of the screen. 'Stellar Master Mode '''is a mode where you do different planets and each planet has 3 showdowns: Easy, Ex and Diamond .Beating these will unlock songs, arrows, characters (usually different PiX's) and more. There are 11 planets: Popcorn, Glow, Ugisui, Red Dolphin, Velocity, Twin Hearts, Peiria, Phantom, Nitro, The Last, and a bonus one, called Pizza Box. You can only get Pizza Box by clearing all of the planets. Characters There are 8 characters available in this game. 5 of them are from older games, though all of them has been updated. The other 3 are new to this game. Returning: *Disco (Afro) *Emi *Rage *Baby-Lon *Jenny New: *Gus *Ruby *Robo-Zukin *PiX Home Versions 3 home versions based on SuperNova were released in Japan, the United States, and in Europe for the PlayStation 2: The Japanese home version was released on January 25, 2007 alongside the official soundtrack. The game itself is a direct arcade port featuring nearly all the new songs which debuted, and also console exclusives such as Soul Crash, Baby's Tears (スカイガールズ・オプニングテーマ), "Moonster", and Silver Platform - I wanna get your heart -. Main article: Dance Dance Revolution SuperNova (North America) Main article: Dancing Stage SuperNova (Europe) The American and European home versions of SuperNova contained new songs from the Arcade version, along with other localized licensed tracks, such as Dance, Dance by Fall Out Boy and additional features carried over from previous home versions such as support for the EyeToy and online play. Song List The official soundtrack is available in the United States as an MP3 download on Amazon MP3, or as an AAC download on iTunes. Arcade Version Home Version This is the soundtrack for the Japanese PlayStation 2 release of ''Dance Dance Revolution SuperNOVA. Songs with padlock require you to unlock them first through the game's Stellar Master Mode. Songs with clapperboard indicate it has a special background video References External links *Dance Dance Revolution SuperNOVA DDR SuperNOVA Gateway (Japan, America & Europe) *Dance Dance Revolution SuperNOVA Konami US product page Category:DanceDanceRevolution Category:Arcade Series Category:PS2 Series Category:2006 DDR Games Category:Games